Whitefish Bay’s first publicly financed affordable housing project is completed and already renting to people on a waitlist, full of 356 initial applicants.
On May 28, a ribbon cutting event celebrated the opening of the three-story, 17-unit project, called The Hampton, at the intersection of North Santa Monica Boulevard and East Hampton Road (4800 – 4818 N. Santa Monica Blvd.).
The event was held by developer Brian Spoerl of Spoerl Commercial, LLC, alongside the many contributors who helped get the project across the finish line, including County Executive David Crowley, Milwaukee County Supervisor Anne O’Connor, Whitefish Bay Village President Kevin Buckley, Trustees Jay Saunders and Anna Kasper, Wisconsin Housing and Economic Development Authority (WHEDA) Senior Business and Community Engagement Officer Maria Watts and multiple investors in the property.
Also among the attendees was Colin Daly, a member of the Village’s Board of Appeals, which overturned a separate village commission’s initial rejection of the project in 2023. The commission had said the project didn’t “feel like Whitefish Bay.” Spoerl later challenged that decision and won before the Board of Appeals.
The $5.9 million project is supported by $2.8 million in American Rescue Plan Act funds and $230,000 through the HOME Investment Partnerships Program, both allocated by Milwaukee County, along with $1.16 million from WHEDA.
At the event, Watts said in her 28 years working for WHEDA, she has never seen a project like this. WHEDA was created in 1972 exactly for things like this, she said.
On the morning of May 28, the building received occupancy approval from the village, and Spoerl said he’s in the process of reviewing applications. He has already fully approved 12, and some of those tenants are expected to move in this week.
Spoerl is also the developer behind a similar, planned affordable project in nearby Shorewood. In the coming days, he’ll find out whether the project is also awarded WHEDA tax credits, a necessary step in getting that project fully approved.
Technically, Saunders clarified that Whitefish Bay does have other apartment housing that qualifies as affordable for the area – though this is the first publicly-funded affordable project.
“Either way, this is exciting,” Saunders told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. “Any time we can have development in the village is a good thing.”
At the ceremony, Crowley highlighted his administration’s investments in affordable housing during his tenure, totaling $50 million.
But it always takes partnerships he said, noting the many players who came together to make this project possible.
“We can’t do this work alone,” he said. “We need this across the state.”
O’Connor also highlighted the collaboration, along with many of the challenges the project faced along the way.
She said throughout the approval process, the project opened up difficult discussions across the community that dove into the history of the village’s previous housing practices that restricted access to the area. Those discussions also covered why public investment is used to support these projects, along with why markets often don’t support them without public investment.
“This is an opportunity for more discussions on bringing more affordability across the entire county,” she said.
Contact Claudia Levens at clevens@usatodayco.com. Follow her on X at @levensc13.
This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Whitefish Bay’s first publicly financed affordable apartments completed
Reporting by Claudia Levens, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel / Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
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